Dusk Till Dawn
by Hamatichi
Summary: She was a dancer. Many soldiers came to see her. He was a soldier. And he came to see her too. The story of how Cattleya Baudelaire and Claudia Hodgins met, how he took her in and how his wish to be a papa was not so far off from becoming reality.


It was a typical busy Saturday night for Cattleya Baudelaire. One performance after another. She had been doing this for a few years now, her weekly schedule barely changed. The only thing that varied was the amount of customers that came to the lovely nightclub "Liebenswert" to see the pretty girls dance and every now and then there would be people, men for the main part, from other countries to enjoy their shows too.

Now it wasn't a nightclub that offered only half naked women, presenting them in the spotlight of the stage, while they performed over sexualized dances. It was, by all means, something more elegant. An establishment with rooms full of luxurious wallpapers and floors, drinks that expensive that they almost crossed the line to being tolerable and the girls were wearing noble outfits that were lovely to look at and they showed only as much of skin that was needed to tease men in a way, that they decided to stay longer and pay extra. Some of them would even leave all their cash on the table, only to get sweet five minutes with a lady of their choice alone, to simply sit back and enjoy a private show behind closed curtains...

Ever since Cattleya had started to work as a dancer at "Liebenswert" she had become quite popular among the people. Her presence, attitude, behaviour. Her looks, that charming smile and the sassy way she could talk to guests. These were all things that made her admirable to almost everyone that was paying a visit. As much as she enjoyed the attention and to do what she loved, dancing, a business like that most certainly had a tremendous dark side. Not only didn't she have many friends, most of the girls were envious of what she achieved on a weekly basis, but there were also men that bothered her and she wasn't able to do more than smile and take it as it happened to be. And beside the extra money she was working so very hard for, the payment in general wasn't one that could lead to a much better life, nor could it make up for any mental pain she had gone through in the past. Most of the incomes simply flushed straight into the pockets of the owners.

Admittedly though, her life right now was much better than the one she ran away from years ago.

The clock ticked. Almost midnight. Her shift would be over soon.

It's truly been one of the days she felt more exhausted than usually. It weren't the group performances that wore her out, but rather the private shows she agreed to handle to get some extra cash she could save for future purposes and then she would finally be able to leave all the people in this town behind. Sadly a dream like this was yet out of reach. But without dreams, there would be no motivation, right? Well, that was her spirit to keep going.

There was nothing that could possibly save her day and make her feel better in any way, so when the boss called her over to tell her that there was one more person requesting her, the female could not help it but let out a deep sigh. Being popular truly had its flaws and if she didn't need all the money she could possibly make, she would not have agreed to deliver another private show for the night.

Wearily, but still somewhat elegant, Cattleya strolled along the hallway to the room her next and last customer for the night was likely already waiting in. She wondered who he could be. What he would look like, /how/ he would be like and most importantly, how he would behave towards her. She did have guests of all sorts by now. Young men disappointed in love, so they tried to forget about broken hearts and distracted themselves with beautiful women dancing instead, elder guys that hadn't seen youthful bodies that offered skin in quite a while, perverted soldiers that wanted to touch and more than that... She has had them all before and she was waiting for a surprise. For someone that was actually different from all the men she had encountered before, but he would most likely never come. The guy of her dreams, the knight in shining armour that would possibly free her from this place and take her with him, they guy she wanted to lose her virginity to, because she would give him her all, but that guy did probably not exist and even if he did, how could he find interest in someone like her? Leaving aside that everyone, truly everyone, regardless of their gender, that had at least seen her once, considered her as beautiful, Cattleya herself had never been the one to see it. And she wanted to offer her potential future lover more than she could right now.

Snapping herself out of deep thoughts, the young woman shook her head and took a moment to breathe, before she finally entered the room. Her gaze had fallen down onto the floor as she was bowing down a little, a way to greet her guests in a polite manner. Her purple orbs gazing at tall feet, packed up in heavy boots. Very likely another soldier. A light smile traced her coloured lips and her gaze would slowly and carefully move upwards. - He was definitely a man of the military, judging by what he wore. - Eventually, her eyes focused on the man's features and she had to admit that she felt some adrenaline rush through her veins at the view of a very handsome man.

A handsome man with blue eyes and red hair, giving her a smile so sincere, that seemingly erased all the bad in this world, even if it was just for a moment and for some reason it felt like he could be /the one/.


End file.
